Hip Pain

Hip pain assessment showing outer hip symptom location during physiotherapy review

Hip pain location often helps identify the likely cause.

Hip pain is pain felt in the groin, outer hip, buttock, or upper thigh. It may come from the hip joint, gluteal tendons, bursae, hip flexors, nearby muscles, or referred pain from the lower back. Pain site, movement tests, and load response help narrow the likely source.

Hip pain can affect walking, stairs, sleep, work, and sport. It may feel like a deep groin ache, a sharp pinch, outer hip pain, buttock pain, or upper thigh pain. This page sits within the broader leg pain and hip cluster, and links closely with hip arthritis, gluteal tendinopathy, hip labral tear, and the groin pain hub.

A physiotherapist can assess your hip, nearby muscles, tendons, walking pattern, strength, and lower back. Your plan can then match your pain level, goals, work demands, sport, and training load.

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Quick Hip Pain Check

Front hip or groin pain may link with the hip joint, hip flexors, labrum, or femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS).
Outer hip pain may link with greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS), gluteal tendinopathy, or trochanteric bursitis.
Buttock pain may come from the deep hip, gluteal muscles, pelvis, or lower back pain.
Seek urgent medical care if you cannot stand, pain followed a fall, or your hip is hot and swollen and you feel unwell.

What Is Hip Pain?

Hip pain is a symptom, not one diagnosis. It may start from the joint, tendons, bursae, hip flexors, adductors, gluteal muscles, lower back, or pelvis. A clear assessment helps find the main driver and the safest next step.

The pain site gives useful clues. Groin pain is more likely to come from the hip joint or front hip tissues. Outer hip pain often involves gluteal tendons or the bursa. Buttock pain can overlap with lower back, pelvis, or deep hip muscle pain.

Common signs may include:

Groin pain or a deep ache at the front of the hip
Outer hip pain that is worse when lying on that side
Buttock pain, stiffness, or a shorter stride
Clicking, catching, or pinching with hip bending
Pain with running, squats, stairs, hills, or getting out of the car

Where Is Your Hip Pain?

Your hip pain pattern helps guide the assessment. It does not give a final diagnosis on its own, but it can show which tissues need closer checking.

Pain pattern	Common examples	Often worse with
Groin or front hip pain	Hip arthritis, labral irritation, FAIS, hip flexor pain	Walking, deep squats, stairs, getting out of the car
Outer hip pain	GTPS, gluteal tendinopathy, trochanteric bursitis	Side lying, stairs, hills, longer walks
Buttock pain	Gluteal muscle pain, deep hip pain, referred back pain	Sitting, lifting, walking, prolonged standing
Clicking, catching, or pinching	Labral pain, impingement-related pain, joint irritation	Hip flexion, twisting, sport, pivoting

What Causes Hip Pain?

Hip pain may start from the joint, a tendon, a bursa, a muscle strain, or a nearby area such as the lower back. Many people have more than one factor. Common drivers include weak hip muscles, a sudden training spike, repeated compression, long sitting, sleep position, or a change in walking or running load.

Hip Arthritis

Hip arthritis often causes groin or front hip pain, morning stiffness, and pain after longer walks. Care often includes education, strength work, movement changes, and pacing. If symptoms persist, your physiotherapist can guide rehab and discuss when medical review may be useful.

Hip arthritis: signs, movement changes, and treatment options.
Hip replacement rehabilitation: recovery guidance after surgery.

Trochanteric Bursitis and GTPS

Outer hip pain often sits under the GTPS group. Many people notice pain when lying on the sore side, climbing stairs, crossing their legs, or walking for longer periods. While the term bursitis is common, gluteal tendon pain and reduced load capacity are also common drivers.

Trochanteric bursitis: symptoms and common triggers.
Greater trochanteric pain syndrome: why lateral hip pain can flare.
Gluteal tendinopathy: a common tendon source of outer hip pain.
Bursitis treatment: ways to settle irritated tissue.

Sporting Hip Issues

Sport-related hip pain often involves load spikes, sprinting, kicking, deep squats, or change-of-direction work. Common issues include hip flexor pain, groin pain, FAIS, and labral injuries. A clear diagnosis helps guide training changes and rehab progressions.

Hip labral tear: symptoms, diagnosis, and rehab priorities.
Femoroacetabular impingement syndrome: front hip or groin pain linked with hip impingement.
Groin pain: overlap between hip, adductor, and pubic-region symptoms.
Sports physiotherapy: support for training, sport load, and return-to-play planning.

Referred and Overlapping Pain

The hip and lower back can refer pain into similar areas. Buttock, thigh, or groin symptoms may need both hip and spine checks. Your assessment may include hip motion, back movement, strength tests, walking review, and nerve screening if needed.

Movement tests help match treatment to your hip pain pattern.

When Should You Worry About Hip Pain?

Most hip pain is not dangerous. However, some signs need prompt medical review. Do not ignore severe pain, sudden loss of weight-bearing, fever, major swelling, or symptoms after a fall.

Seek urgent medical advice if:

You cannot stand or walk on the leg
The pain started after a fall, crash, or strong twist
The hip looks deformed, very swollen, red, or hot
You have fever, feel very unwell, or have unexplained weight loss
You have new numbness, weakness, bladder changes, or severe back-related symptoms
Your child has hip pain, limps, or refuses to walk

Should You Keep Moving or Rest?

Complete rest is rarely the best long-term answer. Instead, aim for movement that stays tolerable and does not cause a long flare. Shorter walks, flatter ground, less hill work, or lower gym loads may help in the early stage.

For tendon-related outer hip pain, reducing compression can also help. This may mean avoiding side lying on the painful side, sitting with crossed legs, or stretching hard into painful positions. Once pain settles, strength work usually becomes more important than rest.

A Practical Hip Pain Plan

Find the pattern: note whether pain sits in the groin, outer hip, buttock, or thigh.
Reduce clear triggers: adjust hills, stairs, sitting, running, gym depth, or side sleeping.
Keep useful movement: choose activity that does not cause a long flare.
Build capacity: progress strength, balance, walking, running, or sport tasks step by step.
Review if stuck: seek assessment if pain persists, worsens, or limits sleep and walking.

How Is Hip Pain Assessed?

A physiotherapy assessment aims to find the likely source of pain and the factors keeping it sensitive. Your physiotherapist may assess hip movement, strength, walking, squatting, single-leg control, joint irritability, lower back movement, and sport or work tasks.

Testing should also match your goal. A runner may need gait and load review. A field sport athlete may need change-of-direction testing. A person with night pain or walking limits may need a different screen and referral plan.

Should You Have an X-ray, Ultrasound, or MRI for Hip Pain?

Not always. Many cases of hip pain improve with the right advice, load changes, and rehab. Imaging may be useful after trauma, if symptoms do not match the assessment, if progress stalls, or if serious features are present. Your GP, physiotherapist, or specialist can help decide whether X-ray, ultrasound, or MRI is suitable.

Physiotherapy Treatment for Hip Pain

Physiotherapy treatment for hip pain depends on the diagnosis, pain level, and goals. Treatment may include education, load changes, manual therapy where useful, strength work, mobility exercises, gait retraining, and return-to-sport planning.

Settle the Irritability

Early care often focuses on reducing painful loads. This may include changing sleep position, walking distance, running volume, gym depth, stair load, or sitting habits. Heat, ice, or short-term medicine advice from your pharmacist or GP may also support comfort.

Build Strength and Capacity

Hip rehab usually needs progressive strength. Your plan may include gluteal strengthening, hip flexor or adductor loading, balance work, trunk control, and later task-specific exercise. An exercise physiologist may help with longer-term strength, fitness, and health goals.

Improve Mobility and Movement Patterns

Some people need better hip range, stride length, squat control, or trunk and pelvis control. Others need less aggressive stretching and more strength. Your plan should match your pain source, not a generic hip routine.

Return to Sport or Higher-Demand Work

Return to running, field sport, heavy lifting, or manual work should be staged. Progress usually depends on pain response, strength, movement control, speed, load tolerance, and confidence. Sports physiotherapy may help when hip pain affects training or competition demands.

Hip Pain Decision Guide

If this sounds like you	A sensible next step
Pain eases quickly and walking feels normal	Keep moving, reduce obvious triggers, and monitor response.
Pain keeps returning with stairs, hills, running, or gym work	Book a physiotherapy assessment and review load, strength, and movement control.
You limp, lose sleep, or avoid daily tasks	Seek assessment soon so your plan matches the likely pain source.
Pain follows trauma, fever, deformity, or inability to weight-bear	Seek urgent medical care.

Related Hip and Groin Conditions

Hip pain can overlap with nearby conditions. These pages may help you choose the right pathway:

Frequently Asked Questions About Hip Pain

What is the most common cause of hip pain?

There is no single cause for everyone. Groin pain often points towards the hip joint or hip flexors. Outer hip pain often involves gluteal tendons or the bursa. Buttock pain may come from the hip, lower back, pelvis, or deep gluteal muscles.

How do I know if my hip pain is serious?

Seek urgent medical care if you cannot weight-bear, pain followed a fall, the hip is hot and swollen, or you feel unwell. You should also seek review for night pain, unexplained weight loss, new weakness, or symptoms that are getting worse.

Can hip pain come from my back?

Yes. The lower back can refer pain towards the buttock, groin, outer hip, or thigh. That is why a hip pain assessment often checks both the hip and lower back before deciding on treatment.

Is walking good for hip pain?

Walking can be useful if it stays comfortable and does not leave you limping or flared for hours afterwards. Some people need shorter walks, flatter ground, or temporary load changes while the hip settles.

Should I stretch or rest a sore hip?

Hard stretching is not always helpful, especially for irritated outer hip tendons. Rest may help a short flare, but most people need guided load changes and progressive strength to recover well.

When should I see a physiotherapist for hip pain?

Book an assessment if hip pain limits walking, sleep, work, training, or sport. A physiotherapist can help identify likely contributors and guide safe progressions.

What to Do Next

If hip pain is limiting your walking, stairs, sleep, work, or sport, book a physiotherapy assessment. A clear plan can help you understand the likely cause, calm the irritated tissue, and rebuild strength and confidence.

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